Audi wouldn't give me any information about the part or fault unless i paid them to put my car on their diagnostics system to give them te same error code i did!! Alan (customer services guy, nice chap) told me the name of a company who can refurb the unit and that its not that of a UNcommon fault!

However, VW, my mate called an engineer over who told me that the needle lift sensor is (on most diesel engines) inside the INJECTOR PUMP unit..costing £1436.00 + VAT on an exchange basis! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Good job i was already sat down!!!

Could be lucky, the sensor mght not be in the unit (but knowing my luck...it WILL be!) Only way I will defo know is to give car to Audi and let them check it!

G80 is the sensor like A tdc sensor
on the A80 they used to play up and make the engine missfire
slightly harder to check on the 2.5 v6 but you can knock the top of the injector with a spanner and theis can free the needle lift up only in some cases, be carefull though
on the A80 you can hit the injector from memory no.3 and it will missfire even at idle.

I currently have the same issue ( Open circuit / short circuit to positive ) but the car is driving perfectly except for lots of exhaust smoke.
Did you have the same issue or what caused you to get the diagonists done ?

im sorry i have a 2001 1.9tdi octavia and i have tried 3 injectors that are supposed to be in good working order and the code keeps coming back, can anybody help with that? the car has a rough idle and excessive smoke, black, and the mileage has dropped considerably since this code is appearing.

the engine ecu needs the info from this injector to evauluate the correct injection timing
its like a tdc/cam sensor on a petrol
so the car should not run correctly ie poor start/smooth running/smoke etc also can create missfire
this will affect the comencement of injection and can throw up this code as well

Needle lift sensor is the 3rd injector, acts as a TDC sensor for the ECU so (as towcestervag said) it can work out the Start Of Injection. If the needle sensor is defective the ECU will take reference readings from the crankshaft sensor and the speed sensor inside the VP44 pump so it can still work out the SOI albeit with reduced power and economy ! The needle lift sensor wont stop the turbo from making boost so you need to look at the boost control valve or clean the VNT mechanism. I would also check the MAF, if defective it will do exactly that as the engine will default to 500Mg of air per stroke so it wont go over 80 Mph !

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